Winnipeg lies at the confluence of the Assiniboine and the Red River of the North, a location now known as "The Forks". This point was at the crossroads of canoe routes travelled by First Nations before European contact. Winnipeg is named after nearby Lake Winnipeg; the name is a transcription of the Western Cree words for muddy or brackish water. Evidence provided by archaeology, petroglyphs, rock art and oral history indicates that native peoples used the area in prehistoric times for camping, harvesting, hunting, tool making, fishing, trading and, farther north, for agriculture.

Although the British built Fort Mackinac to protect their settlement from attack by French-Canadians and native tribes, the fort was never attacked during the American Revolutionary War. The entire Straits area was officially acquired by the United States through the Treaty of Paris in 1783. However, much of the British forces did not leave the Great Lakes area until after 1794, when Jay's Treaty established U.S.

Grand Hotel's front porch is the longest in the world at some 660 feet in length, overlooking a vast Tea Garden "Grand Hotel MI From Lake" by Dehk - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Hotel_MI_From_Lake.jpg#/m…

Algonac is situated on what is called "the largest fresh-water delta in the world", at the mouth of the St. Clair River. Many canals wind their way throughout the city, which has given Algonac its nickname of "The Venice of Michigan." Mark Twain traveled through this area Wednesday, July 17th, 1895. Major Pond, in his journal wrote: "New Venice, on the St. Clair River, is a most interesting resort. I have seen nothing else like it in America.

Due to its southerly location and the moderating effect of Lake Erie, it has a slightly milder climate than inland areas. Its climate is one of the mildest in Canada, and the island has long been used for vineyards and wine making. The wine industry was started here in 1860 and died out in the early twentieth century, but was restarted in the 1980s. The island is an agricultural based community which grows about 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of soybeans, about 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of wheat, 200 hectares (500 acres) of grapes, and a few hectares of specialty corn.

This area had long been inhabited by indigenous peoples. After the American Revolutionary War, the United States mounted the Northwest Indian War to push Native American peoples out of what it then called the Northwest - the area of the Midwest south of the Great Lakes and west of the Appalachian Mountains.